Note to Arn Hryn 5^II

[8] menn teknir ‘men chosen’: No recorded use of taka/tekinn, normally ‘take/taken’ suits the present context, but two meanings of taka til are possible if teknir til tírarþinga are construed together. (a) ‘Choose, elect’ occurs, completed either by the name of a position such as konungs ‘king’ or frillu ‘mistress’, by a more abstract term such as gerðar ‘arbitration’, or by an at-cl. (Fritzner: taka til 9). This seems to give the best sense in the present context, although it is not specified by whom Magnús and company are ‘chosen’: presumably God or an abstract destiny. This is Finnur Jónsson’s interpretation in Skj B. Kock accepts the sense ‘chosen’ for teknir, but does not construe it with til tírarþinga, which he takes rather with þurðu ‘rushed’ (NN §1133). (b) Teknir til tírarþinga could alternatively mean ‘famed for glorious encounters’, since taka e-n, e-s til e-s can refer to reputation, as in Hann var til þess tekinn, at honum var verra til hjóna en ǫðrum mǫnnum ‘He had the reputation of being worse off for servants than others’, Grettis saga (Gr, ch. 30, ÍF 7, 101, quoted in Fritzner: taka til 10).

References

1. Bibliography
2. Skj B = Finnur Jónsson, ed. 1912-15b. Den norsk-islandske skjaldedigtning. B: Rettet tekst. 2 vols. Copenhagen: Villadsen & Christensen. Rpt. 1973. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger.
3. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
5. ÍF 7 = Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar. Ed. Guðni Jónsson. 1936.
6. Internal references
7. 2022, ‘ Anonymous, Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar’ in Margaret Clunies Ross, Kari Ellen Gade and Tarrin Wills (eds), Poetry in Sagas of Icelanders. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 5. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 640-806. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=70> (accessed 26 April 2024)